About INgene blog : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog

About INgene : First ever Indian Youth trend Insights blog:This blog explores the detailed characteristics of Young-India and explains the finer & crucial differences they have with their global peers. The blog also establishes the theory of “adopted differentiation” (Copyright Kaustav SG,2007) and how the Indian & Inglodian youth are using this as a tool to differentiate themselves from the “aam aadmi” (mass population of India) to establish their new found identity.

The term youth refers to persons who are no longer children and not yet adults. Used colloquially, however the term generally refers to a broader, more ambiguous field of reference- from the physically adolescent to those in their late twenties.Though superficially the youth all over the world exhibits similar [degree of] attitude, [traits of] interests & [deliverance of] opinion but a detailed observation reveals the finer differential characteristics which are crucial and often ignored while targeting this group as a valued consumer base. India is one of the youngest countries in the world with 60% of its population less then 24 years of age and is charted as the most prospective destination for the retail investment in the A. T. Kearney’s Global Retail Opportunity Report, 2007. With the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided (socio-psychologically) into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural (R1, R2 to R4 SEC) areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% (A, B,C, D & E SEC) and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers (A1,A SEC) and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart.

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Sunday, June 30, 2013

Facebook ban in Indian educational institutes- an youth perspective

Social media phobia is encroaching in every educational institute of India in an extent that the firewalls are blocking it from the shared network to the personal investigations as watch dogs by the authorities, administrations and teachers. According to a Facebook's statement as on December 31, 2012, it has 1.06 billion monthly active users (MAUs) worldwide. Users in Brazil, India and Indonesia represented key sources of growth in fiscal 2012 relative to the prior year. Facebook has 71 million MAUs in India as of December 31, 2012, an increase of 54 percent compared to the same period in 2011. 63% of Facebook users in India are below 24 years old and 73% of them are male (2012 report). Interestingly, the Indian academia is extensively allergic to social media arguing that it is nothing but wastage of time. The argument is surprisingly supported with the voices of system-educated Indian gray hair administrators and CEOs who thinks social media indeed is wastage of productive time by their paid employees. The youth are taking looped path to break the firewall and access facebook. Here’s one such page with options: http://tricktactoe.com/tricks/tricks-to-open-facebook-when-it-is-blocked/

Recently I was discussing with a group of peer leaders to understand their take on whether social media is also a learning platform rather than wasting time and the reply was positive. Most of them believe Facebook is a platform to learn a lot that’s not usually taught in conventional school. Even social media is a great platform to connect with ‘likeminded’ peers to share ideas, communicate freely (very good tool for the introverted youth to participate in discussion, voice opinion).

Vishakha stated “at fb I have access to : 1) Amazing artworks throughout the world which I won’t be able to see otherwise as its more interesting to see them here, rather than on individual websites 2) Share my work and get criticism which helps me improve and I learned specially, How to Multi-task I work hard throughout the day, but I access fb too all the time. It doesn't affect my work quality, it just gives my mind time to relax’. She added “ It has given me a confidence boost to share my thoughts openly, to realize what I really like. But be careful, if you are pro-fb like me, people will judge you, they will call you addicts. But in the end you should know what you are using it for - Sharing dumb troll pics, or discussing your thoughts, interests, artworks and music… Art is not just painting in your room, art is experienced within you, and unless and until you feel what you are doing, and connect with other people artistically and emotionally, you are not doing justice to yourself.’ Shakti malik mentioned that FB is helping him to communicate, to know the new things etc, but he also agrees that it take its toll if one gets addicted. Gulshan agreed that he is learning art and music from facebook. The youth confirmed that the social media is much better than TV as it’s a two way communication with lot of scope to discuss, voice opinion, exhibit works and communicate.

Here’s a part screen grab of the online discussion after a casual group discussion, offline :

The problem is perception of 'learning' and consecutive generation gap in understanding the core values of learning. Among the older generation of India, learning means reading books, listening to lectures in a class room, finishing homework and delivering the same 'accurately' at the exam to score high. It neither has any scope of interaction, beyond box wisdom or self learning. The over induced spoon feeding makes the learning scenario unattractive to the youth. In the 'India Human Development Report 2011' prepared by Institute of Applied Manpower Research the main concern was the drop outs of school which can become significantly high if the schools appear ‘boring’ (which is a fact, actually).

1 comment:

I’m so glad I found this site…Keep up the good work I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say GREAT blog. In your next post, provide the Education Institutes in India, so that students come to know about the colleges. Thank for the sharing.

Kaustav SenGupta's profile:

Kaustav SenGupta, an award winning academician, is the Associate Professor and HOD at National Institute of Fashion Technology. He is the Youth Market analyst, youth ethnographer, color psychologist and youth event curator in India. Kaustav is founder moderator of Ingene, the first ever open source Youth Insights research Lab in India. Over a decade, he has consulted for international brands and agencies like Nike, BBC, Groupe Adeo, Mountain Dew, Nokia UK, SkullCandy, Lenovo, O&M, Redifussion Y&R etc. on understanding the youth socio psychology of this subcontinent. He is a panelist of Titan Paradox panel, ColosNext color trend report of Asian Paints, ColorsIndia Conference etc. He is the organizer of TEDxYouth Chennai and InkLink DAM fest, (which promotes creative young talents and peer leaders). Kaustav is the only Indian Youth market analyst who's being interviewed by BBC, UK. He has authored more than 36 articles, 3 international papers, multiple columns and has mentored more than 1000 young professionals across the globe. read more about him at www.kaustavsengupta.com ,

Awards & Honours:

Kaustav has been invited by Lenovo- O&M youth insight roundtable to share his "insights" about Youth in India.He has been in colorsIndia conference as guest speaker, in Mobileyouth salon as guest panel of speakers, in Retail-jewelers India as a guest speaker, been in Asian Paints color 2013 panel as expert.Jury member of “Shilpa Guru Award- Govt. of India”- selected to be the jury member for 4 consecutive years

Testimonials & Quotes about INGENE :

"Meanwhile, trendspotter and Fashion Professor, Kaustav Sengupta, predicts that ‘eco-cool’ will be of growing importance to young consumers."

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Centre for Asian Studies

"This is a blog, so it is ever changing. However, the focus is on the trends of the youth culture in India, including information on fashion. One can look for items of interest (for example, movies) by using the blog search feature in the upper left of each page."

3) Youth drive the tech revolutionInteresting article by Ingene here.......................................9) Indian Youth are rediscovering their own youth cultureIn some respects, Indian youth are still learning the ropes when it comes to picking up on global trends. Coffee culture, Vogue and MTV may have led the way but now Indian youth want their own. Bollywood can stand on its own two feet globally and to be “desi” now is to be cool and it’s a local offering with global variance rather than a local variant of a global offering,

" While undertaking research for my blog posts, I came across Ingene, which calls itself the “first-ever Indian youth trend research blog” (http://ingene.blogspot.com/2008/08/indian-youth-lifestyle.html). Here is how the researchers in Ingene categorized Indian youth:“with the first ever non-socialistic generation’s thriving aspiration & new found money power combined with steadily growing GDP, bubbling IT industry and increasing list of confident young entrepreneurs, the scenario appears very lucrative for the global and local retailers to target the “Youngisthan” (young-India). But, the secret remains in the understanding of the finer AIOs of this generation. The Indian youth segment roughly estimates close to 250million (between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five) and can be broadly divided into three categories: the Bharatiyas, the Indians & the Inglodians (copyright Kaustav SG 2008). The Bharatiyas estimating 67% of the young population lives in the rural areas with least influence of globalization, high traditional values. They are least economically privileged, most family oriented Bollywood influenced generation. The Indians constitute 31.5% and have moderate global influence. They are well aware of the global trends but rooted to the Indian family values, customs and ethos. The Inglodians are basically the creamy layers and marginal (1.5% or roughly three million) in number though they are strongly growing (70% growth rate). Inglodians are affluent and consume most of the trendy & luxury items. They are internet savvy & the believers of global-village (a place where there is no difference between east & west, developing & developed countries etc.), highly influenced by the western music, food, fashion & culture yet Indian at heart” (http://ingene.blogspot.com/2008/08/indian-youth-lifestyle.html).I am quoting this characterization at length because in spite of its obvious commercial slant, it speaks to a challenge of writing about new media practices among young Indians. This group encompasses several hundred million people, and is marked by geographical, socio-economic and gender differences. It is therefore impossible to study, or talk about, them as one group."

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Youth Marketing

"Friday, 23 January 2009Indian youth survey statisticsSource : INGENE'Over 70% of Indian youth never heard of globalisation'Posted: Dec 23, 2008 at 1336 hrs ISTA study on Indian youth finds out that attitudes towards globalisation etc haven't changed much.New Delhi: A section of Indian youth are still conservative in making friends outside their religious circles and more than a two-third have never heard about globalisation, said a report released in Delhi."

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Blogged.com

"Queer and loving it"INGENE ... on his face, the waif-thin Amrit held a 1 foot by 1 foot placard - "Queer and loving it" - and blew kisses at his male "friend". With a pair of translucent, sky blue ... of others who had gathered at the Barakhambha Road-Tolstoy Road junction Sunday evening to participate in the Delhi Queer Pride '09 parade. The "gay" parade, an annual event organized by a coalition ...

"Great data from Ingene about social networking trends and attitudes among Indians both in India and abroad.It turns out Orkut isn’t only beloved in Brazil, it’s also the most popular branded social network in India — a staggering 94% of Indian youth have an account with Orkut. Facebook comes in next at 57%."

Studying well and aspiration for a better career(better than the last previous generation) is motivating Indians (in India and abroad) to succeed better than their global peers... a report from UK reconfirms the same...

Wednesday, 11 February 2009Indian youth remains positive- even in this meltdown worldoverSource: INGENEEven in this time of "melting dream" and the nightmare of being "pink-slipped" Indian youth remains positive. The unique value of family bonding and social support has saved India earlier also...during the invasion and devastations in Mughal and British period. Check the reports below:

---------------------------------------------------------------causeandconnect.com"Fakoconsciousness" is coolSource: INGENEAmong Inglodian* & Indian youth* the Fakoconsciousness (copyright Kaustav SG 08) is cool...Fakoconsciousness means a method to create an impression that one is "attached" with an ecological or sociological cause...that can be just wearing a green tee with quotes as "go green"!

Youth are becoming socially responsibleSource: INGENEAfter the smart pink chaddi movement the trend of social awarness is spreading faster...and most of these movements are spreading / communicating through internet.various micro groups are forming through social networking sites (facebook & Orkut...essentially).

... to find the recent trends in Love & relationship. The details being given below. Kaustav SenGupta INGene 73% of the people believe commitment as to be the first and the foremost part of love when asked in a ... decide to marry each other, definitely people become choosy about their partner but once decided they will become very much possessive. Copyright : INgene & Gaurav, Chennai-India

---------------------------------------------------------------Global-Swarming:the "new look" of indian youthlooking "cool" = looking different = looking "ugly" (to the "aam admi..gosh)...that reaffirms my theory of adopted differentiation... check how wonderfully the Indian youth (the Inglodian* segment) are redefining the meaning of "being beautiful@cool"...

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indiaprblog.com

"There is a very interesting report on Indian youth trends at Ingene. What stuck me the categorisation of the Indian youth..."

I got a "virtual thank you" note :)

Thanks to Ingene (the blog that covers youth trends emerging in India) for the heads up on this (and Ruby Pseudo for helping me find Ingene… this could go on) . The Bicycle Project is an initiative designed by a few peeps to collect and repair old bicycles to give to children in villages so that they don’t have to walk such long distances to school. Above all, it is to encourage them to stay in school, to help them secure a brighter future.It’s really positive to see that new approaches to social welfare are picking up pace there.

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few comments came through mail:

Hi Kaustavji, I loved some of your insights and I feel we have much in common.... I look forward to getting to know you in days to come. Your understanding is spot on, as far as Indian youth affairs go....-Sunil Robert VAuthor - I will survive

“Many regards from Ogilvy & Mather, Delhi - not just as an opening for this mail, but also for the many insights you share with us & others through your blogs.”-Anoop MenonPlanning DirectorOgilvy & Mather, New Delhi

"i just happen to visit your blog and read a few things about you and your team in it which inspired me to write you an email. u have talked about the Indian youth trend research which is a wow.... it is a first of its kind i came across.... great going"-amitesh mukherjeeStudent

"I’ve been reading your blog and found your thoughts and studies into eco-consciousness really interesting. I especially like the way you use the phrase, ‘Eco-trendy’, What a good phrase! "-Martycurrentmedia.com

“Thank you very much for a wonderful blog and site. I was told about you from some of our many authors - and we have a lot in Indian - and very happy to see how you give value and a strong voice to young people in India. Bombadil Publishing is a global youth to youth publishing company, where young people write books for young people.”-Marianne Rugård Järvstråt, PhDBombadil Publishing ABSweden

“I had gone through your blog- http://www.ingene.blogspot.com/ and found it quite informative. We want to publish your content while mentioning the relevant information like your blog's link so that our readers could follow it up and check your blog out.”-Anjita LalAssociate Editor,ODE-Of Distinct Expressions

"I am a university student in the United States. I am working on a research paper about the influence of western culture on India, especially fashion with youth to college aged students. I have come across your blog and I find it very useful!"-Melissa MaddenStudent

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Udhavum Ullangal is a free home for orphan children and helpless elderls organized by a team of retired people which is functioning in Chennai for past 8 years.

The children home functions at Adambakkam. Whereas, the elders cum children home is functioning at Maraimalai Nagar.

This home provides free food, shelter, medical care and other basic needs of life to the inmates, besides providing school education to orphan children of the home.

All the services provided by the home is dependent upon the support offered from kind hearted and helping natured people like you, for managing various expances of the home...

COPYRIGHT:

The segregation of Indian youth, The theories which Kaustav has stated here , Presentations, Graphical representations, The analysis as well as Prediction of forecoming Trends are all jointly belong to Kaustav SG & INgene (2006-2012). Any plagiarism , without prior permission, will not be tolerated.